Should We Mourn United Nations or Try to Reform It?

By Ayman Okeil

On October 24, 2024, the countdown to 80th anniversary of United Nations began. A few months prior, the adoption of United Nations Charter, often regarded as the constitution for international relations, was celebrated. I believe that the period leading up to October 24, 2025, will provide an opportunity to reflect on achievements of this organization and initiatives it has undertaken that have preserved peace and spared the world from the scourge of a third world war. However, this timeframe also allows us to evaluate the failures that have plagued the organization, which, according to some observers, may render it nearly obsolete and unable to recover from its current challenges.
Starting with its achievements, since its inception, United Nations has championed the cause of liberating colonized nations through the right to self-determination. It has contributed to the spread of international law, established programs for its introduction, and encouraged its teaching, benefiting hundreds of thousands of diplomats, experts, and other interested parties. We often measure United Nations success by its political achievements, overlooking its humanitarian interventions. Despite the positive roles the organization plays in mitigating impacts of natural and human disasters, these efforts deserve greater recognition. On August 30, 2024, United Nations allocated $100 million to support emergency humanitarian needs in ten countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. While this allocation is a step forward, it is merely a drop in the ocean compared to the extensive humanitarian needs of people who are in dire circumstances.
However, alongside these bright spots, there is a troubling aspect that casts a shadow over the organization and its personnel, including its senior officials: its failure to halt wars in the Middle East, such as conflict in Gaza, escalation in southern Lebanon, and violence in Sudan. Perhaps the most significant failure is the inability to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, to the extent that the UN’s top humanitarian official warned that all residents of northern Gaza are at risk of death. Yet, organization decline did not begin with the Gaza conflict. It can be traced back to when the five permanent members of the Security Council began to overreach, manipulating the will of the majority and using the veto power to block resolutions based on political agendas. Even when United Nations managed to adopt resolutions aimed at stopping armed conflicts, these resolutions often went unimplemented, as evidenced by the ongoing dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Another critical aspect of United Nations failures is the status of its Secretary-General, António Guterres, the leader of the world’s most important organization was denied entry to two member states in September and October 2024 due to his stance on Gaza conflict, with Israel being one of the countries that barred him. The second incident occurred during his trip to Russia for the BRICS summit, where Ukrainian president denied him entry to the capital, Kyiv. This situation frustrated many diplomats who had hoped that Guterres would play a more significant political role in preventing wars. I do not wish to be overly critical of the organization, nor do I advocate for its dismissal as outdated. Instead, I support calls for reform, as United Nations still retains credibility among member states, and there is a general public commitment to the principles upon which it was founded. However, for this reform to translate into tangible actions, it must begin with expanding the membership of the Security Council and empowering the organization to take decisive steps to curb the arms race, ultimately working toward a global system that ensures collective security for all nations. Additionally, the organization must address and eliminate double standards within its bodies, agencies, and programs. If these steps are realized, they may enable the organization to recover from its current challenges.